Yakoob on 4/7/2023 at 07:11
Quote Posted by Sulphur
I was confused for a second because what you were describing sounded like Doom Eternal more than 2016. Yes, there's a few scenes that go story heavy and don't let you just get on with it (seemingly ignoring what the game itself makes fun of in the beginning), but everything else is... not necessary? You don't need to read or listen to the logs (though they're great, dumb fun - the corporate satire everything is laced with did earn some chuckles). I don't even remember the ghosts, that's how much they were there. You can just ignore them too and keep going. The non-action bits last for like 3% of the game's runtime, and I think Doom 3 had more story bits than 2016.
And, uh, don't use the pistol if you don't have to. Once you get other weapons, you almost never really need to get back to it because the demons are instant ammo-refills.
But anyway, if that riled you up, I dunno, Doom Eternal has more shit tacked on, but with also more game, so statistically you get more demon killing in. But it's also tweaked the combat in ways I found deeply irritating, has actual unskippable story shit, and worst of all, decides to take that story so seriously, it becomes the equivalent of sitting through someone reading out a second-tier fantasy prog metal lyric sheet while channelling the voice of Patton Oswalt. What a disappointment that was.
I almost had to check the game I bought cause a lot of the stuff (health/ammo drops, glory kills, etc.) is straight up the praise/criticism I heard about Eternal. I actually skipped eternal because I knew that stuff would annoy me. Alas, it is here too.
I think the story does let up a bit later (just finished level 4), but there's so many secrets and unlockable it gets annoying. I feel like I need to keep pausing and navigating the maze-like 3D map to find all the upgrades. Sure, teeeechnically I don't need to do that, bit given those upgrades increase my stats, increase my suit abilities, AND give my weapons new shooting modes, it doesn't feel like it's good to just ignore them. I'm limiting my firepower and my gameplay experience. So it just breaks the flow when I have to keep checking the map every 5 minutes and backtracking the empty corridors...
While I mentioned the whole glory kills and stuff earlier... I'm not digging it. I don't want to get up-and-close and micromanage my health/ammo every second of the combat. I just want to strafe around and go pew pew on demons. I get how this kind of gameplay forces you to take more risks and be more strategic, but... I just want to strafe around and pew pew some demons :(
also everything is orange and gray. I grew up memorizing all the online FPS shooters maps for breakfast, and I can't make sense of half the maps. because it's all orange and gray.
Aight, I'll get back to yelling at some clouds now.......
Sulphur on 4/7/2023 at 07:18
Quote Posted by Yakoob
While I mentioned the whole glory kills and stuff earlier... I'm not digging it. I don't want to get up-and-close and micromanage my health/ammo every second of the combat. I just want to strafe around and go pew pew on demons. I get how this kind of gameplay forces you to take more risks and be more strategic, but... I just want to strafe around and pew pew some demons :(
Sure, yeah, if you're not liking the glory kill mechanic, then the game's not going to work for you, because that is its core '30 seconds of fun' loop, to borrow a Halo-ism. 2016 is definitely not an oldschool shooter experience, if what you were wanting was something to just unload on demons and keep going. I think you'd be better served by an indie boomer shooter, and you have like a million options right now for those.
Quote:
also everything is orange and gray. I grew up memorizing all the online FPS shooters maps for breakfast, and I can't make sense of half the maps. because it's all orange and gray.
Hey, at least you didn't grow up having to memorise Descent's maps. I think I got some flashbacks to 'nam when I saw 2016's map screen, but I'm not entirely sure that's the game's fault.
Harvester on 4/7/2023 at 07:19
Quote Posted by nicked
Bear in mind that the way Steam calculates it is off everyone who owns the game, and it's a free update to anyone who owns the original Quake. So that's 10% of everyone who's ever bought Quake on Steam. The percentage of people who have installed and played the remaster and have the achievements is probably much higher.
Ah yes, makes sense, I didn't know it was a free upgrade.
Quote Posted by WingedKagouti
It's worth remembering that Scourge of Armagon and Dissolution of Eternity were basically just mission packs by fans with a slightly higher budget than most mission packs. They were also released less than a year after Quake, so the quality being low compared to the game should be expected. At the time they were both quite notable achievements, but they're certainly lacking by today's standards.
For what it's worth, I think the level design in Scourge is good, and they do more dynamic things with the environment than the main game. I'll probably enjoy playing through the mission packs. I played them when they came out but that was when I still played games with god mode so that doesn't really count.
nicked on 4/7/2023 at 13:00
I'm having a blast with Dave the Diver. It's one part Subnautica, one part Overcooked in a roguelike package, and if that sounds weird, you're not wrong, but it's packed full of humour and fun characters.
Malf on 4/7/2023 at 13:15
Huh, Harvester made me remember playing a Quake expansion that had submarines in it; it wasn't either Scourge of Armagon or Dissolution of Eternity, but a third-party pack called Malice. I seem to remember it being pretty cool.
Did anyone else play this?
And that also reminds me of another awesome mod, Nehahra.
Dagnabbit, gonna have to scratch my id itch soon.
henke on 4/7/2023 at 13:25
Yeeeeah! Malice had cutscenes and voiceacting and whatnot. Felt extremely ambitious for a Quake TC.
Aja on 4/7/2023 at 15:01
Quote Posted by Yakoob
Every few minutes there is some audio log, or a ghost to follow, or a new skill upgrade unlock, or some new piece of information, or a fucking cutscene that locks you in one room for 5 minutes until you are done listening to it. I DON'T CARE! Just let me blast demons!! Why are you stopping me from blasting demos!? It's fucking doom, demons invade mars, we get it, just let me shoot them!!!
This hasn't been my experience at all. I'm about three-quarters through and have spent maybe 45 seconds in cutscenes. I haven't read any information or had to stop to listen to audio logs. Yeah, if you want to find all the secrets you have to be slow and methodical and check the map, but that was true of original Doom. If all you want to do is run around and blast demons, then, uh, just do it. The way I've been playing it is: go through a level at whatever pace feels comfortable, without worrying about finding secrets and upgrades (you'll find at least a few anyway), and then later go back and replay earlier levels with your upgraded firepower, which makes them easier, and hunt for secrets then without too much stress. I love the glory kill mechanic, though. If you're not getting on with the base gameplay, it's probably not for you.
It does get a bit less orange and grey as you go on, at least.
Tomi on 4/7/2023 at 19:38
Quote Posted by WingedKagouti
The way you described the game reminded me of
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, which is not a bad game to be compared to IMO.
Oh yeah, I had forgotten about that little gem! :) I loved that game, and now that I think about it, it has quite a lot in common with Bramble indeed. Bramble just takes the horror and the gore to a whole new level.
Sulphur on 5/7/2023 at 16:10
So I finished Planet of Lana, and I liked it plenty. A lot of that is because of the small details more than anything spectacular it does with gameplay (to be clear: there is no spectacular gameplay, but the art is sweeping and lovely when it wants to be, which is often enough), like Lana stumbling at the edge of platforms in an animation very reminiscent of the Prince from PoP 1989, the five-note tone of acceptance from the robots as you take over their programming, the way Lana whispers to Mui when they're in the company of enemies, and the small, unnecessary, but very-appreciated option to pet Mui when you're crouched next to him/her.
But also, one overriding reason I feel positive overall about the game is because of the aforementioned Mui, your cat-hamster animal companion, loyal to a fault, and just incredibly goddamn cute. I mean, Mui even does that little butt-wiggle cats do when they're about to jump on something - the fact that they managed to give a blob with ears just enough personality from animation and a few sounds for me to care about deeply, I want to say it's masterful - but it depends heavily on how much your own experience with and affinity towards animals can project warm, fuzzy feelings on top of Mui. Let's put it this way: I can't imagine the game being half as worthwhile if it weren't for the timeworn (but vital!) trope of the loyal, faithful pet. You know the game's done it right the moment you feel separation anxiety when you can't see your pal on the screen any more.
Obviously, Mui is the key to most of the puzzles, and there's artificial gating to ensure you don't leave him/her behind. The puzzles, as mentioned in an earlier post, don't progress in very inventive or clever ways as often as they should, and a fair few are just going through the motions. It's a simple game, and it doesn't do a lot with a little, but it does just about enough. And even if it can't wow with ingenious mechanics or an inventive story, it doesn't have to, because in the final analysis, it does something a wee bit better: it is, very simply, heartfelt.
Moving on, I forgot to mention earlier that I also played the Rusty Lake co-op entry with Jesh, The Past Within. It's ingenious in that it's built in such a way that you don't need an internet connection to play with the other person, you just need a way to talk to them. The game blocks progress at your end by giving you incomplete information about something, and your friend needs to understand what you need and give it to you, and meanwhile they've got the same problem on their end. One of the challenges that could have happened gameplay-wise is that there could have been too many puzzles bouncing around at the same time on either side, resulting in mutual brainlock - the game doesn't let this happen, because it gates off the number of things either of you need to deal with at any given point of time to a manageable number. So it's pretty smart!
But it's also tied to Rusty Lake's structure in that there's macabre, surreal (macabreal?) shit happening, and it's managed through a limited adventure game set of verbs where inventory objects are used on scenery in freaky ways, which at this point, I don't know about you, but it doesn't travel with me half as far as an actual Lynchian story would. The other issue is that the puzzles generally don't rely on either party actually puzzling something out; it's just matching whatever information is incomplete on the other person's end with the information you have on your end. Simple, effective, but also kinda boring - and it knows this, because it doesn't draw anything out. The entire game lasts about 1.5 - 2 hours, max, which is great, because I think we were both ready to be done with it at that point. All in all, a decently fun time. Probably more than that if you're a big Lake o' Rust fan, I guess.
